Headphones are known in the art, including headphones with folding earpieces. Typically, these types of folding headphones include earpieces that simply hinge inwardly toward the headband of the headphones. The problem with this arrangement is that the faces of the earpieces are exposed and may be contaminated by dust or other foreign material, and the earpieces frequently touch, which may cause marring or scratching of the earpiece shell.
In response to these problems, headphones have been developed with hinged ear pieces that face each other when folded inward. This is typically accomplished by providing a hinged fork which is able to rotate at least partially around each earpiece. These types of headphones avoid the problem of contamination reaching the face of the earpieces and damage to their sensitive component parts. However they include certain drawbacks including a hinging mechanism which cannot indicate to a user when the earpieces are in an optimally folded or unfolded position, and frequently will not remain in an unfolded position, which causes the earpieces to swing back and forth when not folded together.
The present invention solves these problems by providing headphones with foldable earpieces capable of notifying the user when the earpieces reach a fully folded or unfolded configuration, and which prevents the earpieces, when unfolded, from swinging back and forth. These and other objects of the invention are more fully discussed in the appended summary, description and claims.